Explaining Crusade’s support for Roday, former councilor Chuck Richardson says voters should look past race

Standing next to a street named in his honor because he was part of the first majority-Black Richmond City Council elected in 1977, former councilor Chuck Richardson said Tuesday that race relations back then were “terrible.”

“When I first ran for council, for a Black person to vote for a white person would’ve been heresy,” Richardson said at a news conference at his home in the Carillon neighborhood. “You would’ve been committing political suicide. For a white to vote for a Black was just as bad.”

But the Richmond of today isn’t the Richmond of 50 years ago, Richardson said.

And that’s partly why, Richardson said, he and the Richmond Crusade for Voters, an organization traditionally focused on preserving Black voting power and Black political influence, are backing Harrison Roday to be Richmond’s next mayor.

“A lot of the members of the Crusade, because of pride, we wanted to have a person of color to be our next mayor,” Richardson said as he explained the Crusade membership’s decision to endorse Roday, a white Henrico County native with a background in finance and investing. “But after we looked at all of the objective evaluations, we have to admit to ourselves it’s time to do what Martin Luther King said. We have to judge people by the content of their character, and not the color of their skin.”

Richardson, who asked voters to “trust my judgment on this one,” is on the Crusade’s research committee that conducted what he called an “intense” vetting and interview process for mayoral candidates.

Roday appeared alongside Richardson on Tuesday at an event his campaign organized to highlight endorsements from the Crusade, the progressive activist group New Virginia Majority and the Richmond Education Association, a union representing city teachers and other workers in city schools.

“These organizations have a long and incredible track record of fighting for what matters in the city of Richmond,” said Roday, who is one of the top fundraisers in the five-person mayoral race that also includes former public health official Dr. Danny Avula, City Councilor Andreas Addison (1st District), community organizer Maurice Neblett and former City Council president Michelle Mosby.

At the news conference, Roday described himself as a “proven Democrat” and “progressive problem-solver” while emphasizing his focus on affordable housing, protection for renters, reducing gun violence, supporting schools and protecting abortion access. Richardson said he felt Roday had the right mix of leadership abilities, know-how and “courage” to be an effective mayor.

Black candidates have won every mayoral election held since the city switched to a strong mayor form of government in 2004. Mosby appears to be in the strongest position to keep that streak going, and has talked up the history-making potential of the city electing a Black woman as mayor for the first time on an election night when Kamala Harris could become the first Black woman chosen as president.

Mosby and Neblett, who has raised a minimal amount of money for his campaign, are the only Black candidates in the race.

Despite the Crusade’s backing of Roday, Mosby has endorsements from many of the city’s Black civic and faith leaders, including former Mayor Dwight Jones and state Dels. Delores McQuinn and Michael Jones.

“Across the country and here locally, we are seeing strong, progressive, experienced Black women making history up and down the ballot,” Mosby said in a written statement when asked for a response to Richardson’s remarks. “Representation matters, and diverse voices are essential in the decision-making process at all levels of government. As Mayor, I will always make sure our voices are heard.”

Mosby has leaned into her status as the only woman running for mayor. Her Bold Move, a national organization focused on helping women get elected, endorsed Mosby, calling her “the best candidate to safeguard women’s health and reproductive rights.”

In the 2016 mayoral race, the Richmond Crusade for Voters backed polarizing former General Assembly member Joe Morrissey, according to the Richmond Free Press. Morrissey lost to current Mayor Levar Stoney. In 2020, the group endorsed former city councilor Kim Gray. She also lost to Stoney.

Richardson — who was forced off the City Council in 1995 after battling a heroin addiction and getting caught selling heroin in an undercover drug bust —said he “expected” some pushback over the Crusade’s decision to endorse Roday.

“We make no apologies,” he said. “Because we are here together and none of us are going anywhere. So we may as well learn how to live together.”